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Market Insight Reports

Find a wealth of data and analysis extracted from the 1Q24 Baird-MDM Industrial Distribution Survey, including trending charts and figures for revenue and expectations, plus plenty of interesting commentary.
The report features in-depth articles that recap the year that was 2023 in distribution dealmaking, a full rundown of every deal we covered in October-December, the latest EBITDA trading multiples and more.
Find a wealth of data and analysis extracted from the 3Q23 Baird-MDM Industrial Distribution Survey, including trending charts and figures for revenue and expectations, plus plenty of interesting commentary.
Find a wealth of data and analysis extracted from the 3Q23 Baird-MDM Industrial Distribution Survey, including trending charts and figures for revenue and expectations, plus plenty of interesting commentary.
Our 2023 third quarter M&A report features in-depth articles on activity by Ferguson and Veritiv, and chronicles the overall quarterly pace of new deals.

The third annual MDM distribution e-commerce survey found that distributors’ e-commerce revenue as a percent of overall revenue is rising. But while distributors are increasingly using multiple vehicles to drive demand online, they have not yet effectively integrated tools such as marketing automation and paid search into their efforts. This article looks at how distributors approach demand generation online and ways they can improve the weakest links, as revealed by the survey.

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Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:

  • The 2014 State of E-Commerce in Distribution, Part 1
  • Special Report: The Industrial Vending Boom
  • Behind Grainger's E-Commerce Strategy
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The third annual MDM distribution e-commerce survey conducted with Real Results Marketing revealed several key trends:

  • E-commerce revenue as a percent of overall revenue is rising relative to last year’s survey.
  • The primary objectives among distributors for e-commerce remain acquiring new customers, growing wallet share with existing customers and improving website usability.
  • Mobile deployments are growing rapidly.

This article examines the results of the 2014 State of E-Commerce in Distribution Survey and how the industry’s e-commerce offerings are maturing. Part 2 will look at best practices for distributor e-commerce marketing, data management and operations.

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Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:

  • Strategies for Private Label Success
  • Special Report: The Industrial Vending Boom
  • Behind Grainger's E-Commerce Strategy
Effortless-QandA

The desire to “delight your customers” is a noble one. But the effort involved may be better used elsewhere. Rick DeLisi, senior director of advisory services for CEB’s sales and services practice and co-author of The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty, spoke with Associate Editor Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier about how distributors could better focus their efforts to provide a better customer service experience for all customers online and off.

This article includes:

  • A strategy that works better than the strategy of delighting customers
  • The worst question a customer service agent can ask
  • New challenges to customer loyalty

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Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:

  • MDM Interview: How to Stand in Your Employees’ Shoes
  • Where Managers Blunder
  • Yes, Customers Want to Hear from You

Establishing a feedback mechanism is critical in improving processes across a business. Steve Deist of Indian River Consulting Group examines the importance of having a “feedback loop” and how it can help distributors create a more strategic approach to sales.

This article is an exclusive summary of the recent MDM Webcast, CRM & the Strategic Sales Force.

This article includes:

  • Characteristics of an effective feedback loop
  • Best practices to getting feedback
  • Where many companies fail

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Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:

  • MDM Interview: How to Stand in Your Employees’ Shoes
  • Where Managers Blunder
  • Yes, Customers Want to Hear from You
Wholesale revenues, excluding manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, reported $989 billion in e-commerce revenues in 2012, or 20.1 percent of the industry’s $4.9 trillion in sales that year, according to data recently released by the U.S. government. This article looks at how overall sales growth for the industry compared with e-commerce sales growth from 1999 to 2012, with four graphs showing the trend.

Where there are gaps, there are opportunities. MDM’s research on the state of analytics in wholesale distribution identified clear gaps across analytics technology, talent and techniques. This perspective from Publisher Tom Gale talks about why you should think about a strategy and plan for analytics.

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Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:

  • The Rise of 'Little Data' in Distribution
  • Minding the Gap Between Data and Action
  • Commentary: Better Data, Better Analytics/li>
data-on-gray-background

Research conducted by MDM on the adoption and use of analytics by wholesale distribution companies revealed several key trends:

  • The wholesale distribution industry is transitioning to a more data-driven mindset, but there are widely different views on what that means.
  • Many distributors say they don’t have the right analytic tools, technologies and talent needed to stay competitive in quickly shifting markets.
  • Survey respondents are generally satisfied with analytics centered on operational efficiencies and financial reporting, but less satisfied with deployment of more strategic tools focused on profitability, sales, marketing and service development.

This article includes:

  • The evolution of Analytics
  • Results from the MDM survey on use of analytics in distribution businesses
  • Opportunity for competitive advantage using analytics

Subscribers should log-in below to read this article.

Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:

  • Beyond Amazon: E-Commerce's Impact on Wholesale Distribution Markets
  • The Rise of 'Little Data' in Distribution
  • MDM Interview: Breaking Down the Barriers for CRM

In 2013, MDM spoke with scores of distributors, manufacturers and industry experts to research trends and events affecting the wholesale distribution industry. Many had a real talent for expressing the most important and complex issues of the day in just a few words.

Log-in below to get 2013's in Review: Top Quotes of the Year.

This feature is an exclusive benefit for subscribers to MDM Premium. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today.

The norm is now people who walk around with two or three devices - phone, tablet, laptop. So why are so many salespeople still selling as though the Internet doesn't exist?

Publisher Tom Gale's perspective looks at why distributors need to think differently about the fact that most people have already does their research before they reach out to a supplier. How can that supplier fill in the information gaps and add value?

Internet business and basket design, blue digital shopping cart on black background
In the past, distributors would often sacrifice margins to gain market share and drive the topline. However, such tactics negate a strategic pricing process, rendering it nearly nonexistent. Without process, your people must make pricing decisions in a vacuum. As hard as they might try to compensate for and cope with inefficiencies, and as effective as their efforts might be in the short-term, you can’t expect them to sustain healthy margins in the long run.
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Distributors are responding to customer concerns and increased demand on staff in a variety of ways, including limiting new business to meet existing customer demand; open communication on shortages and supplier allocations, and discouraging panic by not accepting returns beyond normal usage patterns. Face the crisis with a sense of flexibility and resilience, experts say.
Cook & Boardman acquire Bass
Last month, The Cook & Boardman Group LLC, a specialty distributor of commercial door entry solutions and systems integration services based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, announced its 10th acquisition in the two and a half years since CEO Darrin Anderson joined the company in the summer of 2017. A portfolio company of investment firm Littlejohn & Co. since October 2018, the acquisitions are part of a larger Cook & Boardman effort to continue to grow the companys national footprint.

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man and woman working
Introducing any of these jobs product manager, chief digital officer, sales enablement manager, trusted adviser and director of inventory has the potential to make your company more open to change, better embrace the customer experience and streamline operations to meet evolving business demands.

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Investment Banking Directory

Work with a banking partner that knows your business. Get detailed information on investment banks with expertise in the wholesale distribution industry.

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